


You'll be safe

by twdeadfanfic



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, One-Shot, Violence, and that twd things, lenguage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 15:45:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16558604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twdeadfanfic/pseuds/twdeadfanfic
Summary: The reader lost her camp and her people and is roaming the woods alone when a group of men find her, bad men. But a not so bad man showes up to help, though how can you trust a stranger after all you had seen, all you had gone through?Based in this request: The reader lost her group and is out on her own. And one night, a bad group of people find her and are about to kill her but then…Daryl saves the day!!! And he tries to get her to trust him and bring her back to Alexandria!





	You'll be safe

With a tired, hopeless sigh, you flopped onto the ground, your back against a tree and hugging your knees.

You’d been out there alone in the woods for a few days now, and you knew you couldn’t keep going for long. You had been lucky to have a few protein bars in the backpack you had grabbed before running away from your overrun camp and you’d been rationing them as best as possible but you had eaten the last piece yesterday, not to mention the lack of water.

You’d been with the same group since the beginning, and as months and months passed, your camp had developed into what you could call a home. It was all gone now. A group of men had arrived, demanding you to give them your supplies and everything else they wanted, and when your group had refused they had begun killing people, and soon you all stopped trying to fight back, they were a big group and had more and better weapons than you.

The worse hadn’t even been that. After they’d taken everything they wanted, they had shot to the air and left, making even more noise and bringing a herd of walkers to your camp. The men had taken all your guns. It was a massacre.

You had your knife with you and you had taken your backpack and had run away as everyone scattered around too, trying to stay close to some of the others but finally losing sight of them. You had tried to find anyone else after it, when the walkers were scarcer and easier to put down with only a knife, but the only people you found were dead…or dead but walking.

You’d been roaming the woods since then. You’d tried to go back to the road to try and find a place to hole up or where you could scavenge for supplies, but what you’d found had been a massive herd of walkers, so you’d retreated back to the woods.

There you were still and honestly, you were starting to wonder what was the point anymore. You were alone, you had no food or water, you only had a knife…

“Hey, she’s not a biter!”

You snapped your eyes open when you heard a voice and found a man approaching, another two walking behind him. You didn’t like it…it’d been a group of men who had made you end up like that, who had attacked your camp. And those men looked a bit like bad news.

Though maybe they weren’t…maybe they had a camp, with more people, with supplies…and you were quite desperate by now. Besides, it wasn’t like you could hide, they were already in front of you.

“What you doing here? You with someone? A group?” One of them asked, eyeing you suspiciously while the others looked around.

“No, I…I’m not a threat…”

You answered, holding up your hands, hoping they wouldn’t attack you, even daring to hope that if they’d a group they’d take you with them…you might not like much how they looked but you also knew you weren’t going to last much longer out there without water and food…if you didn’t end up being food yourself.

“Yeah, we know you aren’t.”

One of the men replied, chuckling, and before you knew what was happening he had grabbed your hair and yanked you onto your feet, making you cry out in pain.

“What the hell are you doing?” You hissed, trying not to show how scared you were and struggling to free your hair from the man’s grip, which only made him tug harder.

“Shut up and give us your shit.”

“I have nothing, asshole!” You spat and the man let go of your hair to grasp your throat, squeezing it when you struggled again and you stopped, afraid he’d choke you.

Another one had grabbed your backpack and was dumping your scarce belongings to the ground.

“She has nothing.”

“Aren’t you damn useless?” The man used the hand that wasn’t holding you by your neck to grope you, trying to find if you had something on you. You shuddered but when you tried to pull away his grasp on your throat tightened. “At least she has this,” he took your knife from its sheath. “Now, don’t you worry…you behave? We think about keeping you alive.” He ran the blade down your cheek.

You said nothing, refusing to give in, refusing to show how scared you were, though you didn’t know if you were managing, your heart was beating fast, fast, and you felt light headed.

“You don’t want to say no…”

He warned you, pressing the blade hard enough to draw blood. Your reply was to hiss in pain and spat to his face.

“What the…you’re dead!”

You had taken him by surprise, though, and he loosened his grip enough for you to claw at his face as hard as you could. The man hissed in pain, cursing at you and pushing you away, while another threw you to the floor. He kicked you hard and you grunted in pain, and he kicked you again until the man who you were starting to think was the leader yanked your hair again, making you sat up and look up at him, and you took some satisfaction at the bloody scratches on his face.

It probably showed on your face, despite the pain and fear, and the man let go of your hair to slap you with the back of his hand, and you couldn’t help a whimper of pain. He grabbed your hair again, pointing your knife to your face.

“We’re not killing you fast.”

Suddenly there was a sound like some sort of whistle and then a thud.

The man let go of you to see what was happening and you saw one of his men dead on the ground with an arrow in his head. Both the men and you looked around, shocked, and for a moment nothing happened but then you saw a man walking closer, crossbow aimed in front of him.

“A crossbow? Really?” Your captor smirked, letting go of your knife to take his gun. “Not that useful, right? It-”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence, the man of the crossbow loosened the arrow, which embedded into the face of the man, who dropped dead to the ground.

The remaining man seemed as shocked as you but he aimed his gun to the other man, who had dropped his crossbow in favor of a gun too. You’d been paralyzed by shock and fear, but you noticed your knife on the ground next to the corpse and you grabbed it.

You thought the crossbow man noticed your intentions, cold blue eyes darting to you for a second, but he didn’t give it away and you sank the blade in the thigh of the other man who cried out in pain and kicked you onto the ground.

There was a gunshot and the man dropped dead next to you.

The other man approached and you recoiled back. He harshly grabbed the head of the dead man and sunk his knife into it before turning to you.

“You alright?” He asked and you opened your mouth but couldn’t say anything. “It’s safe now.” The man was now in front of you, reaching out, and you panicked.

“Don’t touch me!”

The man looked dangerous, in a different way than the others but dangerous nonetheless, and you couldn’t help but think he wanted to do something to you. He had killed the other men…so now what did he want from you, what did he want to do to you…have fun with you, kill you slow too? Or what might he want in return for having helped you…nothing was free… Would he want to hurt you too? Or what? Too many scared questions.

“Damn, woman…”

He growled lowly and you opened your eyes to find that his arm was bleeding. You had meant to push his hand away but you still had your knife on your hand and you had cut him. You were so dead… You tried to crawl away, your back hitting a tree, sure he’d hurt you and kill you now.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

He said but you held your knife in front of you anyway, barely registering what he was saying. He looked at you from behind his long fringe, chewing on his bottom lip, and then he sheathed his knife, holding his empty hands in front of him.

“I won’t hurt you.”

You looked at him, unsure of what to do, and you lowered your knife but didn’t let go of it.

“What…what do you want?” You asked weakly.

“Are you alone? Do you have a group?” He asked back.

You didn’t say anything, you didn’t want to tell him you were indeed alone and none would come to help you if he did whatever he wanted to you. Though probably it was obvious by now.

“I’m from a group, we have a settlement.” The man kept talking when you didn’t. “Safe, with walls. We have food too, I can take you with me… I know, but it’s true.” He added when he noticed you looking at him like you didn’t believe him.

A settlement like that…was it possible? Was he trying to trick you into something, trying to make you fall into a trap? And why was he offering to take you there, assuming it was real? What he or his group wanted from you? You looked at him with mistrust.

“In exchange of what?”

The man looked at you as if confused by your question and then he scowled as if thinking, but before he could say anything a branch snapped and a walker stumbled towards you. The man grabbed him skillfully and sunk his knife into its brain. He cleaned the gore off the blade on his shirt and sheathed it again, looking at you expectantly, as if hoping you’d realize you couldn’t stay there alone.

As if you didn’t know it…

You considered your options. The man still looked dangerous, though he had holstered both his gun and knife, which made you think that maybe, maybe, he really didn’t want to hurt you. But still, him saving you and then offering to take you to his settlement…were he really not expecting anything in return? Maybe…maybe they lured people to…to you didn’t know what. Or maybe there was no community, maybe the man was lying to you for some reason, to do something to you…although he hadn’t done anything yet and he had you there alone and beaten.

“What do you want from me?” You repeated and the man frowned at your question again. “For taking me to that community of yours? And what do they want?”

“Nothing…I mean, you can work there, anything you’re good at…like…like helping with inventory or whatever?” He seemed to say the first thing that sprung to his min. “Dunno…” He shrugged awkwardly.

“It’s safe, the people there are good, none will hurt you,” he began again when he saw you were still reluctant. “I don’t want nothing from you. I won’t hurt you.”

You thought for a moment longer, but you didn’t have much choice, not really.

“Okay…” You said weakly.

The man nodded but this time he didn’t try to help you onto your feet and you winced and groaned as you got up, but when the man made to help you, you flinched away, wincing again.

“You okay to walk?” The man asked but he didn’t try to reach for you again.

“Yeah.”

“Okay…I’m gonna need you to sheathe your knife.”

You didn’t like the idea of not having your knife on hand next to that man but it was only fair, he had holstered his weapons and you were starting to believe that maybe he wasn’t that bad, so you sheathed yours.

When the man took his crossbow from the ground, though, you recoiled with your hand on the sheath of the knife, but he just shouldered it.

“Told you, I ain’t hurting you.” He said softly when he noticed.

You nodded and began following him. He stopped just a couple meters away and took a dead rabbit from the ground.

“I was hunting when I heard you.” He explained to you. “I’m sorry I don’t have any food with me…” He said and you wondered if you looked that starved. “I have this, though…”

He rummaged into his bag and you tensed but he took out a bottle of water, passing it to you. You took a much needed, long sip, too thirsty to think about the water being adulterated or poisoned or whatever.

“Thanks…” You rasped, passing the bottle back.

“We have food in Alexandria, just hold on a bit longer.”

You didn’t say anything and the man looked at you, taking in your still mistrustful and afraid state, and he seemed unsure of what to do or say.

“Look…if you have a group I can take you with them.” He told you. “Help you get to them so none won’t hurt you, or in case you find walkers.”

You had to admit he sounded genuine and his offer took you aback in a good way. Maybe he did want to help you. Or maybe it was all a scheme…but you couldn’t be that paranoid. Couldn’t afford it, either.

“Some men came to the camp…and then it was overrun by the monsters…” You explained weakly, feeling like crying when you thought about it again.

“I’m sorry,” the man murmured. “You’ll be safe with us, really.”

You followed him through the woods until he guided you to the road. You began panicking again when you saw a car parked there with another man lying against it. Maybe this was some kind of trap after all.

“You told me you were taking me to your camp.” You stopped on your tracks, recoiling and looking around ready to run away.

“We need to go on car, it ain’t that close.” The man told you, trying to calm you down. “It’s okay, he won’t hurt you.”

He noticed you recoiling when the other man, seeming confused, made to walk towards you and he reached out a hand to stop him.

“That’s Aaron, he works finding people who he can take back to Alexandria.”

“Why?”

The man shrugged. “Cos he’s good.” You were still doubtful. “He won’t hurt you, nobody will, promise.” He tried to assure you again.

You swallowed hard but nodded, following him to the car.

“Hey, hi there!” The other man greeted you with a slightly surprised but easy smile and you had to admit he looked friendly and not as dangerous as the other. “I’m Aaron, and you?”

“Y/N.”

“Nice to meet you, Y/N!” He turned to look at the other man. “I was starting to think this run has been useless and we weren’t going to find anyone…this’s so good.”

You said nothing, still in shock and unsure about their intentions. The man noticed. “We came from a safe community, we won’t hurt you.”

“He already told me.” You nodded towards the other man.

“Right, good, so do you want to come? I know it must sound strange and difficult to believe, but you really should come, it-“

“What other choice do I have…?” You cut him off, shrugging, knowing fully well that alone and without supplies you’d die soon, and the man gave you a sympathetic smile.

“You’ll like it there, I know it doesn’t look like that now, but you will.”

“You got food with you?” The other man had been silent until now. “She’s hungry.”

“I’m afraid by now I only have this left…” The man took a cereal bar from his pocket and your mouth watered. “We’ll cook you something in Alexandria.” He said, passing you the bar.

“Thanks…”

“I also got a first aid kit…” He rummaged into his backpack. He reached towards you with a rag on his hand and you knew he was trying to tend to your wounds but you couldn’t help but recoil anyway, startled.

“Man, let her be.” The other man snapped.

“Okay, sorry, just…know that none will hurt you now.” Aaron sounded so genuine than you suddenly felt like crying.

“Thank you.” You said before turning to the other man. “What…what’s your name?” You asked coyly.

“Daryl.”

“Thanks, Daryl.”

“’s nothing…come on, we have to get going, it’s almost dark.”

Daryl headed to a bike stopped next to the car and you looked from the bike to the car, wondering what would be less dangerous…you were a bit more sure they meant you no harm, but to survive you needed to be cautious in case everything ended up being actually a trap.

Going on a car with a strange man had been dangerous even in the world before, but going on a bike behind another didn’t seem that safe either…you didn’t know what to do and it seemed to reflect on your face.

“It’s a long ride, you’ll be more comfortable in the car.” Daryl told you, seeing you standing there helplessly. “But you can come with me if you want.”

You shrugged but you had never ride on a bike and all your body hurt, so when Aaron opened the car’s door for you, you cautiously got inside. He didn’t get in and you looked through the window anxiously, finding both men talking outside and you tried to hear their words.

“We take her to the doc first.” Daryl was saying.

“First than to Rick?”

“Yeah, she was beaten. And she’s scared.”

“Okay.”

You felt a bit more at ease listening to them, it sounded like they indeed wanted to help you, for whatever reason.

“What happened to your arm?”

“She was scared.”

“Here, take this.”

“Come on, let’s go.”

You tried to be on alert during the drive but you were exhausted after a couple days barely sleeping and after everything you’d gone through, so your eyes were closing but you forced yourself to stay as awake as possible.

It was a long drive but finally you reached the settlement and you gaped at it, surprised. It had sturdy, tall walls and it was big, bigger than you could have imagined, with big, beautiful houses inside. You had a hard time believing it was real.

“Welcome to Alexandria.”

Aaron parked the car and got out, he opened your door and you stepped outside, looking around amazed and intimidated.

“I should go tell Eric I’m back, I know he worries when we’re out longer than planned…” Aaron sounded uncertain, looking from Daryl to you.

“Go, I take her to the doc.” Daryl told him.

“She’s Denise and she’s really nice.” Aaron informed you. “Okay, thanks Daryl. See you later, Y/N, I hope you like Alexandria.”

You nodded but said nothing and Aaron smiled at you again before leaving.

“Here.” Daryl pointed to the house in front of you and you followed him, nervous again.

“Hey, Daryl…” A blonde woman with a sweet, friendly face opened the door when Daryl knocked. “Who’s this.”

“Y/N. Found her in the woods, she’d run into some trouble, can you check her?”

“Sure, come in.” The woman said, already looking over the wounds on your face.

“Hey,” you found another woman inside, who also looked non-threatening enough for you. “I’m Tara.”

“Hi…Y/N.” You greeted awkwardly and followed Denise into the sort of infirmary that she had at home.

“I’m gonna bring Rick…he’s the leader, kind of.” Daryl informed you and you panicked a bit at the idea of meeting with the leader of such a place and you wondered what did he want in return for taking you in. “He won’t hurt you,” Daryl added, noticing your scared eyes. “You okay here?”

You nodded silently, you felt at ease with Denise, who had already shifted into doctor mode. She tended to your wounds and decided that although you’d hurt for a few days, you weren’t in too bad shape.

Daryl came back shortly after Denise and Tara left you alone in the infirmary to go cook you something to eat. With him came another man who, unsurprisingly, looked a bit dangerous too, and a woman with big green eyes.

“Y/N, right?” He introduced himself. “I’m Rick and this is Maggie.” The woman gave you a smile that helped you relax a bit. “I’m gonna ask you some questions.”

You nodded in silence.

“How many walkers have you killed?”

“Didn’t count them.” You shrugged, wondering why that mattered.

“And how many people?”

“I helped him kill a man.” You nodded towards Daryl.

“I told you, some men were beating her.” He intervened.

“They were going to kill me.” You shuddered.

“You’re safe here,” Daryl told you and you found yourself believing him almost.

“Alexandria’s safe.” Rick agreed. “So we gotta keep it safe…you never killed anyone yourself?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Didn’t have the chance to kill the men who attacked my camp.”

“Alright…” Rick nodded and seemed to think for a couple seconds, also exchanging a glance with Maggie. “Welcome to Alexandria, Y/N.”

“In exchange of what?”

“Your work, work and help us keep Alexandria going and improving,” Maggie said. “We can think about it when you’re better.”

“Just help around when you’re good enough,” Daryl added.

It still sounded a bit strange but you nodded.

“Yeah…inventory or whatever, right?” You told him, remembering his words, and you were surprised to see him smirk. “Good enough for that.”

“We can find you a place to stay.” Rick told you and somehow the idea overwhelmed you a bit.

“She can stay with us for a while, until she’s better and settled.” Tara said, walking into the room with a plate of food that made your stomach growl, placing it on the nightstand. “We have a free bedroom if you don’t like the infirmary.”

“Would you like that?” Daryl asked you.

“Yeah…yeah thank you.” You managed to smile weakly to Tara. You liked her and Denise, they made you feel more at ease.

“Alright then…I’ll leave you to rest, see you in the morning.” Rick said before leaving the room with Tara, talking about something you didn’t catch.

“I’ll come in the morning, show you around if you’re feeling better.”

Maggie added, giving you a reassuring smile before she left too, leaving you and Daryl alone in the infirmary.

“You okay?” He asked softly.

“Yeah…but…everything’s a bit strange…” You didn’t know why you were admitting that to him.

“Yeah, yeah I know.” Daryl gave you a small, crooked smile. “But it’s safe, you’ll be okay here.”

You nodded, you were starting to see it.

“What did Denise say?”

“That I’m okay enough, I’ll be better in a couple days.

“Good, I…I’ll leave you to rest then.” He said awkwardly, turning to leave. “See you around.”

“Daryl.” You called after him.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading! If you have time, please drop me a comment and let me know your thoughts! It was so scary, doing a request, but also so fun. I’m not used to writing short, tho!


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